Monster crocodile traps tourist on Australian island

A tourist has had a lucky escape after being trapped on a remote Australian island for two weeks by a monster 6m crocodile, reports said yesterday.

The New Zealander, identified only as Ryan, was dropped with his kayak on Governor Island off Western Australia’s far north by boat and had been intending to paddle the 4km to the mainland.

He told his rescuer, Kalumburu resident Don Macleod, that every time he tried to kayak away from the island, the giant reptile stalked him. So he stayed on dry land, despite diminishing food and water supplies, for fear of being eaten.

“He said he was there for a fortnight and he came to the conclusion very quickly that he couldn’t get off there without attracting this crocodile that lives in that area and probably was watching him all the time,” Macleod told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “So he was reduced then to trying to conserve his water and signal [for help].”

Macleod said he was familiar with the crocodile that roamed the island, which has no fresh water source.

“That crocodile, I’ve seen him several times actually going by quite fast,” he said. “One day, he just happened to surface alongside me as I was going past and my boat’s 20 foot [6m] long, so he was well up towards the 20-foot mark.”

Macleod said he only went to investigate on Saturday after spotting a light on Governor Island and came across the distressed man.

“I went across and Ryan came out looking a bit distraught,” he told the broadcaster. “He came down the beach, he had no hat on and no shirt on. He was relieved and shocked, and thankful someone had come along because he was running out of options pretty quickly. He is a very, very lucky man. He was desperate for water when I trotted up. We gave him a cold beer, which was probably the wrong thing, and then he went to sleep about three-quarters of the way home.”

This story has been viewed 1203 times.

Comments will be moderated. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned.